DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/04/2023, 02/21/2024 and 05/21/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: in [0053], line 11, “PSCCH data 502” should be “PSSCH data 502”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 9, 13-15, 17-18 and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhao (US 2025/0142597).
Regarding Claim 1, Zhao teaches a User Equipment (UE) comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry, coupled to the memory, configured to, when executing instructions stored in the memory ([0413] The terminal device 2400 includes a processor 2410, which may call and run a computer program from a memory), cause the UE to:
transmit a sidelink (SL) transmission comprising a first resource block (RB) set and a second RB set of at least two adjacent RB sets with an intra-cell guard band between the at least two adjacent RB sets ([0160] The terminal may automatically determine the mapping relationship (or correspondence) between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band, or receive the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band from other devices. The other devices may include network devices or other terminal devices. The guard band may be located between two RB sets. The guard band may include one or more PRBs. RB sets to which the PRBs in the guard band belong may be determined according to the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band. The PRBs in the guard band may have corresponding IRBs, or there may be a correspondence between the PRBs in the guard band and the IRBs. If PRBs in a certain guard band belong to a certain RB set, IRBs corresponding to the PRBs also belong to the RB sets; [0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set; [0164] In an implementation, the guard band includes A PRBs. X PRBs in the guard band belong to the first RB set, and Y PRBs in the guard band belong to the second RB set; [0165] where, X is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤X≤A), Y is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤Y≤A), and X, Y and A are positive integers; FIGs. 17-22); and
wherein physical resource blocks (PRBs) in the intra-cell guard band are configured for the SL transmission based on an association with the first RB set or with the second RB set ([0160] The terminal may automatically determine the mapping relationship (or correspondence) between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band, or receive the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band from other devices. The other devices may include network devices or other terminal devices. The guard band may be located between two RB sets. The guard band may include one or more PRBs. RB sets to which the PRBs in the guard band belong may be determined according to the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band. The PRBs in the guard band may have corresponding IRBs, or there may be a correspondence between the PRBs in the guard band and the IRBs. If PRBs in a certain guard band belong to a certain RB set, IRBs corresponding to the PRBs also belong to the RB sets; [0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set; [0164] In an implementation, the guard band includes A PRBs. X PRBs in the guard band belong to the first RB set, and Y PRBs in the guard band belong to the second RB set; [0165] where, X is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤X≤A), Y is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤Y≤A), and X, Y and A are positive integers; FIGs. 17-22).
Regarding Claim 2, Zhao teaches PRBs of the intra-cell guard band belong to the first RB set with a lower frequency than the intra-cell guard band, or the PRBs of the intra-cell guard band belong to the second RB set with a higher frequency than the intra-cell guard band ([0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set).
Regarding Claim 3, Zhao teaches associate the PRBs in the intra-cell guard band to an interlace indexing of the first RB set by counting interlaces in the intra-cell guard band consecutively from the PRBs of the first RB set, or backwards from an end of the second RB set, based on a resource pool (pre)configuration ([0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set).
Regarding Claim 4, Zhao teaches index the PRBs of the intra-cell guard band between the first RB set and the second RB according to the association with the first RB set or with the second RB set based on a resource pool (pre)configuration or a (pre)defined determination ([0096] a frequency domain starting position and a frequency domain size of the guard band are determined according to pre-configuration information or network configuration information. The terminal obtains the pre-configuration information or the network configuration information. The pre-configuration information or the network configuration information is used for configuring the guard band (GB). In some implementations, guard bands are used to separate resource block sets (RB sets)).
Regarding Claim 9, Zhao teaches determine to transmit a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission on the intra-cell guard band based on a resource pool (pre)configuration, a prohibition, or in response to a PSSCH / physical SL control channel (PSCCH) spanning a plurality of RB sets in an unlicensed spectrum ([0103] in a case where one resource pool includes multiple RB sets and a guard band (GB) is configured between the RB sets, the following issues need to be addressed: ... [0105] a resource mapping relationship between PSCCH/PSSCH/PSFCH/S-SSB and PRBs in the guard band).
Regarding Claim 13, Zhao teaches a method comprising: transmitting, via a user equipment (UE), a sidelink (SL) transmission in an unlicensed band comprising a first resource block (RB) set and a second RB set that is adjacent to the first RB set with an intra-cell guard band between the first RB set and the second RB set ([0103] In a case where the sidelink transmission system operates in the unlicensed spectrum (also known as the SL-U system), it needs to support the interlace structure; [0160] The terminal may automatically determine the mapping relationship (or correspondence) between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band, or receive the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band from other devices. The other devices may include network devices or other terminal devices. The guard band may be located between two RB sets. The guard band may include one or more PRBs. RB sets to which the PRBs in the guard band belong may be determined according to the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band. The PRBs in the guard band may have corresponding IRBs, or there may be a correspondence between the PRBs in the guard band and the IRBs. If PRBs in a certain guard band belong to a certain RB set, IRBs corresponding to the PRBs also belong to the RB sets; [0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set; [0164] In an implementation, the guard band includes A PRBs. X PRBs in the guard band belong to the first RB set, and Y PRBs in the guard band belong to the second RB set; [0165] where, X is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤X≤A), Y is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤Y≤A), and X, Y and A are positive integers; FIGs. 17-22),
wherein physical resource blocks (PRBs) in the intra-cell guard band are configured for the SL transmission based on an association with the first RB set or with the second RB set ([0160] The terminal may automatically determine the mapping relationship (or correspondence) between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band, or receive the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band from other devices. The other devices may include network devices or other terminal devices. The guard band may be located between two RB sets. The guard band may include one or more PRBs. RB sets to which the PRBs in the guard band belong may be determined according to the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band. The PRBs in the guard band may have corresponding IRBs, or there may be a correspondence between the PRBs in the guard band and the IRBs. If PRBs in a certain guard band belong to a certain RB set, IRBs corresponding to the PRBs also belong to the RB sets; [0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set; [0164] In an implementation, the guard band includes A PRBs. X PRBs in the guard band belong to the first RB set, and Y PRBs in the guard band belong to the second RB set; [0165] where, X is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤X≤A), Y is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤Y≤A), and X, Y and A are positive integers; FIGs. 17-22).
Regarding Claim 14, Zhao teaches the PRBs are generated in the intra-cell guard band based on the association being to the first RB set, the first RB set comprising a frequency that is lower than the intra-cell guard band, wherein an interlace indexing of the PRBs in the intra-cell guard band continues sequentially from the first RB set ([0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set).
Regarding Claim 15, Zhao teaches the PRBs are generated in the intra-cell guard band based on the association being to the second RB set, the second RB set comprising a frequency that is higher than the intra-cell guard band, wherein an interlace indexing of the PRBs in the intra-cell guard band is extended in reverse from a last PRB or a last PRB cycle of interlaces in the second RB set ([0293] the Y PRBs in the guard band that belongs to the second RB set include Y PRBs in the guard band that are in an order of indices of PRBs from high to low).
Regarding Claim 17, Zhao teaches determining a sidelink transport block size (SL TBS) for an initial data transmission and a data re-transmission with a number of PRBs per interlace based on a (pre)configuration of either a resource pool or a sidelink bandwidth part (BWP) ([0103] In a case where the sidelink transmission system operates in the unlicensed spectrum (also known as the SL-U system), it needs to support the interlace structure. In the resource allocation or resource indication of the SL-U system, frequency domain resources are allocated based on the granularity of sub-channels. For the SL-U system based on the interlace structure, one sub-channel includes one or more IRBs. In a case where one resource pool includes multiple RB sets and a guard band (GB) is configured between the RB sets, the following issues need to be addressed: [0104] a correspondence between the PRBs in the guard band and the IRBs (or sub-channels) in two RB sets adjacent to the guard band; [0105] a resource mapping relationship between PSCCH/PSSCH/PSFCH/S-SSB and PRBs in the guard band; and a method for determining a transmission block size (TBS) of the PSSCH)).
Regarding Claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in Claim 9.
Regarding Claim 20, Zhao teaches a baseband processor comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry, communicatively coupled to the memory, configured to, when executing instructions stored in the memory ([0413] The terminal device 2400 includes a processor 2410, which may call and run a computer program from a memory; [0427] The processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA)), cause the baseband processor to:
generate a sidelink (SL) transmission in an unlicensed band comprising a first resource block (RB) set and a second RB set that is adjacent to the first RB set with an intra-cell guard band between the first RB set and the second RB set ([0160] The terminal may automatically determine the mapping relationship (or correspondence) between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band, or receive the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band from other devices. The other devices may include network devices or other terminal devices. The guard band may be located between two RB sets. The guard band may include one or more PRBs. RB sets to which the PRBs in the guard band belong may be determined according to the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band. The PRBs in the guard band may have corresponding IRBs, or there may be a correspondence between the PRBs in the guard band and the IRBs. If PRBs in a certain guard band belong to a certain RB set, IRBs corresponding to the PRBs also belong to the RB sets; [0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set; [0164] In an implementation, the guard band includes A PRBs. X PRBs in the guard band belong to the first RB set, and Y PRBs in the guard band belong to the second RB set; [0165] where, X is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤X≤A), Y is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤Y≤A), and X, Y and A are positive integers; FIGs. 17-22),
wherein physical resource blocks (PRBs) in the intra-cell guard band are configured for the SL transmission based on an association of the PRBs with the first RB set or with the second RB set ([0160] The terminal may automatically determine the mapping relationship (or correspondence) between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band, or receive the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band from other devices. The other devices may include network devices or other terminal devices. The guard band may be located between two RB sets. The guard band may include one or more PRBs. RB sets to which the PRBs in the guard band belong may be determined according to the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band. The PRBs in the guard band may have corresponding IRBs, or there may be a correspondence between the PRBs in the guard band and the IRBs. If PRBs in a certain guard band belong to a certain RB set, IRBs corresponding to the PRBs also belong to the RB sets; [0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set; [0164] In an implementation, the guard band includes A PRBs. X PRBs in the guard band belong to the first RB set, and Y PRBs in the guard band belong to the second RB set; [0165] where, X is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤X≤A), Y is greater than or equal to 0 and is less than or equal to A (0≤Y≤A), and X, Y and A are positive integers; FIGs. 17-22).
Regarding Claim 21, Zhao teaches PRBs of the intra-cell guard band belong to the first RB set comprising a frequency that is lower than the intra-cell guard band, and the second RB set comprises a frequency that is higher than the intra-cell guard band ([0163] a value of an index of a last PRB in the first RB set plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the guard band. A value of an index of a last PRB in the guard band plus 1 may be equal to an index of a first PRB in the second RB set. The guard band is used to separate the first RB set and the second RB set; FIGs. 17-22).
Regarding Claim 22, Zhao teaches determine a sidelink transport block size (SL TBS) for an initial data transmission and a data re-transmission with a number of PRBs per interlace based on being pre-defined, a resource pool (pre)configuration, or a dynamic indication in a stage one sidelink (SL) control information (SCI) ([0103] In a case where the sidelink transmission system operates in the unlicensed spectrum (also known as the SL-U system), it needs to support the interlace structure. In the resource allocation or resource indication of the SL-U system, frequency domain resources are allocated based on the granularity of sub-channels. For the SL-U system based on the interlace structure, one sub-channel includes one or more IRBs. In a case where one resource pool includes multiple RB sets and a guard band (GB) is configured between the RB sets, the following issues need to be addressed: [0104] a correspondence between the PRBs in the guard band and the IRBs (or sub-channels) in two RB sets adjacent to the guard band; [0105] a resource mapping relationship between PSCCH/PSSCH/PSFCH/S-SSB and PRBs in the guard band; and a method for determining a transmission block size (TBS) of the PSSCH)), wherein the SL TBS is determined without counting an intra-cell guard band number of PRBs, or based on one or more indications of whether and how many of the intra-cell guard band number of PRBs from a resource pool (pre)configuration ([0232] The embodiment may be combined with any sidelink transmission method of the above embodiments. For example, step S1110 may be performed first, and after the terminal obtains the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band, step S1210 may be performed to obtain the mapping relationship between the frequency domain resources of the sidelink channel and the sidelink transmission resources, and then step S1310 may be performed to obtain the TBS of the sidelink channel. For another example, step S1110 may be performed first, and after the terminal obtains the mapping relationship between the RB sets and the PRBs in the guard band, step S1310 may be performed to obtain the TBS of the sidelink channel. For yet another example, step S1210 may be performed to obtain the mapping relationship between the frequency domain resources of the sidelink channel and the sidelink transmission resources, and then step S1310 may be performed to obtain the TBS of the sidelink channel).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 5 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao in view of Sun et al. (US 2023/0269730).
Regarding Claim 5, Zhao does not teach perform physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) mapping of PRBs on the intra-cell guard band by rate matching a portion of bits associated with SL control information (SCI) stage 2 and another portion of bits associated with SL data on the intra-cell guard band, or rate matching the portion of bits associated with the SL data only on the intra-cell guard band.
In an analogous art, Sun teaches perform physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) mapping of PRBs on the intra-cell guard band by rate matching a portion of bits associated with SL control information (SCI) stage 2 and another portion of bits associated with SL data on the intra-cell guard band, or rate matching the portion of bits associated with the SL data only on the intra-cell guard band ([0086] For high capability UEs, the intra-cell guard band (e.g., 802, 902) may be used for PSSCH transmission as well (e.g., PSSCH rate matches into) if the RB sets on either side intra-cell guard band are allocated; [0110] a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) in the second sidelink sub-channel is rate matched around the guard band and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) in the second sidelink sub-channel is one of rate matched into the guard band or rate matched around the guard band based on at least one of a capability of the first UE or a capability of the second UE; [0091] the PSSCH transmitted by the first UE may be rate matched into the intra-cell guard band).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Sun’s method with Zhao’s method so that it provides improvements to sidelink resource allocation in an unlicensed spectrum (Sun [0005]).
Regarding Claim 16, Zhao does not teach mapping physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) PRBs on the intra-cell guard band by rate matching a portion of bits associated with SL control information (SCI) stage 2 and with SL data, or only the SL data, on the intra-cell guard band, or by repetition of a same portion of bits on the first RB set or the second RB set associated with the SCI stage 2 and the SL data.
In an analogous art, Sun teaches mapping physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) PRBs on the intra-cell guard band by rate matching a portion of bits associated with SL control information (SCI) stage 2 and with SL data, or only the SL data, on the intra-cell guard band, or by repetition of a same portion of bits on the first RB set or the second RB set associated with the SCI stage 2 and the SL data ([0086] For high capability UEs, the intra-cell guard band (e.g., 802, 902) may be used for PSSCH transmission as well (e.g., PSSCH rate matches into) if the RB sets on either side intra-cell guard band are allocated; [0110] a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) in the second sidelink sub-channel is rate matched around the guard band and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) in the second sidelink sub-channel is one of rate matched into the guard band or rate matched around the guard band based on at least one of a capability of the first UE or a capability of the second UE; [0091] the PSSCH transmitted by the first UE may be rate matched into the intra-cell guard band).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Sun’s method with Zhao’s method so that it provides improvements to sidelink resource allocation in an unlicensed spectrum (Sun [0005]).
Claims 8 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao in view of Liu et al. (US 2024/0056898).
Regarding Claim 8, Zhao teaches determine a sidelink transport block size (SL TBS) for an initial data transmission or a data re-transmission with a number of PRBs per interlace based on a (pre)-configuration of either a resource pool or a sidelink bandwidth (BWP) ([0103] In a case where the sidelink transmission system operates in the unlicensed spectrum (also known as the SL-U system), it needs to support the interlace structure. In the resource allocation or resource indication of the SL-U system, frequency domain resources are allocated based on the granularity of sub-channels. For the SL-U system based on the interlace structure, one sub-channel includes one or more IRBs. In a case where one resource pool includes multiple RB sets and a guard band (GB) is configured between the RB sets, the following issues need to be addressed: [0104] a correspondence between the PRBs in the guard band and the IRBs (or sub-channels) in two RB sets adjacent to the guard band; [0105] a resource mapping relationship between PSCCH/PSSCH/PSFCH/S-SSB and PRBs in the guard band; and a method for determining a transmission block size (TBS) of the PSSCH).
However, Zhao does not teach wherein the number of PRBs comprises 10 PRB or 11 PRBs.
In an analogous art, Liu teaches wherein the number of PRBs comprises 10 PRB or 11 PRBs ([0098] different subchannels (interlaces) may have different numbers of PRBs. For example, different interlaces in the same resource block set may have different numbers of PRBs (such as 9 RBs, 10 RBs, or 11 RBs, among other examples). The same interlace in different resource block sets may have different numbers of PRBs (e.g., due to different inter-cell guard band configurations). In some cases, SCI-1 may be used to reserve up to two future sidelink resources for one or more retransmissions of a communication. The frequency RIV (FRIV) field design may assume the same number of subchannels for all reserved SL resources. For the one or more retransmissions of the communication, the transport block size (TBS) may need to be the same as the initial transmission to avoid re-encoding. In some cases, sidelink communications may be assumed to use subchannels having equal sizes. This may result in the same TBS size for both the initial transmission of the sidelink communication and the one or more retransmissions of the sidelink communication; [0109] One sidelink subchannel may correspond to one or more (K) interlaces in a resource block set. In some aspects, for one interlace subchannel, the nominal resource block value per subchannel may be defined as 9 RBs, 10 RBs, or 11 RBs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Liu’s method with Zhao’s method so that a UE may obtain a nominal resource block value associated with one or more allocated subchannels for a sidelink communications, and may identify a number of PSSCH resource elements to be used for a transport block size calculation based at least in part on the nominal resource block value. The UE may transmit the sidelink communication, and may reserve one or more resources for one or more retransmissions of the sidelink communication, based at least in part on the number of PSSCH resource elements (Liu [0099]).
Regarding Claim 23, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in Claim 8.
Claims 11 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao in view of Liu et al. (US 2023/0319745).
Regarding Claim 11, Zhao does not teach transmit a sidelink synchronization signal block (S-SSB) based on interlaces of the first RB set or the second RB set with 11 PRBs, and on a lowest interlace index or a highest interlace index.
In an analogous art, Liu teaches transmit a sidelink synchronization signal block (S-SSB) based on interlaces of the first RB set or the second RB set with 11 PRBs, and on a lowest interlace index or a highest interlace index ([0108] Since the sidelink sync UE 215 may transmit the S-SSB 434 aligned to a low frequency edge 401 of the SL BWP 422 and the S-SSB 434 occupies 11 RBs 510, the S-SSB 434 transmission may collide with the lowest frequency RBs 510 (e.g., RB(9)) of each frequency interlace 508; [0100]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Liu’s method with Zhao’s method in order avoid impacting the performance of a PSCCH transmission, the sidelink sync UE 215 may adjust the resource mapping for the PSCCH to a next cluster 504 that does not overlap with the S-SSB 434 transmission (Liu [0108]).
Regarding Claim 19, Zhao does not teach transmitting a sidelink synchronization signal block (S-SSB) based on interlaces of the first RB set or the second RB set with 11 PRBs and a lowest interlace index or a highest interlace index, or based on an information element that indicates whether to use the lowest interlace index or the highest interlace index and which RB set to use from among the first RB set or the second RB set when a resource pool comprises multiple RB sets.
In an analogous art, Liu teaches transmitting a sidelink synchronization signal block (S-SSB) based on interlaces of the first RB set or the second RB set with 11 PRBs and a lowest interlace index or a highest interlace index, or based on an information element that indicates whether to use the lowest interlace index or the highest interlace index and which RB set to use from among the first RB set or the second RB set when a resource pool comprises multiple RB sets ([0108] Since the sidelink sync UE 215 may transmit the S-SSB 434 aligned to a low frequency edge 401 of the SL BWP 422 and the S-SSB 434 occupies 11 RBs 510, the S-SSB 434 transmission may collide with the lowest frequency RBs 510 (e.g., RB(9)) of each frequency interlace 508; [0100]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Liu’s method with Zhao’s method in order avoid impacting the performance of a PSCCH transmission, the sidelink sync UE 215 may adjust the resource mapping for the PSCCH to a next cluster 504 that does not overlap with the S-SSB 434 transmission (Liu [0108]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7, 10 and 12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Park (US 2025/0185046) teaches method for performing sidelink communication in wireless communication system.
Si et al. (US 2024/0023079) teaches method for wideband operation on unlicensed sidelink.
Cheng et al. (US 2024/0015716) teaches resource allocation for sidelink on unlicensed spectrum.
Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2024/0015746) teaches method of frequency division multiplexing for uplink shared channel transmissions with interlaced resource block allocation.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YU-WEN CHANG whose telephone number is (408)918-7645. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00am-5:00pm PT.
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/YU-WEN CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413